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The rise of the asylum constitutes one of the most profound, and controversial, events in the history of medicine. Academics around the world have begun to direct their attention to the origins of the confinement of those deemed 'insane', exploring patient records in an attempt to understand the rise of the asylum within the wider context of social and economic change of nations undergoing modernisation. Originally published in 2003, this edited volume brings together thirteen original research papers to answer key questions in the history of asylums. What forces led to the emergence of mental hospitals in different national contexts? To what extent did patient populations vary in terms of their psychiatric profile and socio-economic background? What was the role of families, communities and the medical profession in the confinement process? This volume therefore represents a landmark study in the history of psychiatry by examining asylum confinement in a global context. less

Cambridge University Press; August 2003391 pages; ISBN 9780511057106Read online, or download in secure PDF format
Title: The Confinement of the Insane
Author: Roy Porter; David Wright

In the press

Review of the hardback: 'Dealing with the institutions and policies of countries with differing populations, traditions and cultures, these scholars largely eschew the angry and polemical writings of the 1960s and 1970s. Basing their analyses on archival data, they present nuanced and subtle interpretations that offer fresh insight into the mental-health policies of different nations.' Nature